Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

251 Pages·2001·14.392 MB·English

by  Verbrugghe, Gerald P. & Wickersham, John M.

Berossos and Manetho,
Introduced and Translated

Berossos and Manetho,
Introduced and Translated
Native Traditions in Ancient
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Gerald P. Verbrugghe
John M. Wickersham
AnnArbor
THE tiNivERSrrr OF MrcmGAN PRESS
First paperback edition 2001
Copyright© by the University of Michigan 1996
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
§Printed on acid-free paper
2003 2002 2001 4 3 2
A ClP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verbrugghe, Gerald
Berossos and Manetho, introduced and translated : native
traditions in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt I Gerald P. Verbrugghe
and John M. Wickersham.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-472-10722-4 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Berosus, the Chaldean Babyloniaka. 2. Babylonia-History.
3. Manetho. 4. Egypt-History-To 332. B.C. I. Wickersham, John
M. (John Moore), 1943-. II. Title.
DS73.2.V47 1996
932-dc20 96-1860
CIP
ISBN 0-472-08687-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13 978-0-472-08687-0
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Conventions Vll
Map 1-Berossos's and Manetho's Hellenistic World facing page 1
General Introduction 1
Languages and Scripts of Ancient Mesopotamia 2, Languages and
Scripts of Ancient Egypt 6, Two Native Attempts to Preserve the His
tory of Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt 8.
Berossos
Map 2-Berossos' s Mesopotamia facing page 13
Chapter 1. Introduction to Berossos 13
Berossos's Life and Work 13, Berossos's History of Babylonia
Sources, Methods, and Reliability 15, Berossos's History of Babylo
nia-Reception and Transmission 27, Berossos's History of Babylo
nia-Goals and Accomplishments 31.
Chapter 2. Berossos-Ancient Testimony 35
Chapter 3. Berossos-Fragments 43
History of Babylonia, Book 1 43, History of Babylonia, Book 2 46,
History of Babylonia, Book 3 53, History of Babylonia, Unplaced
Fragments 63, Astronomical or Astrological Information 64, Miscel
laneous 66.
Chapter 4. Berossos-Tables 69
Table A. Time Outline-Mesopotamia 69, Table B. Mesopotamian
Ruler-Lists 70, Table C. Jacoby's Numbering for Berossos's Testi
mony and Fragments with Our Corresponding Numbering 84, Table
D. Our Numbering Corresponding to Jacoby's and Burstein's Number-
Vl Contents
ing for Berossos' s Fragments 87, Table E. Ancient and Medieval
Authors Who Preserve or Mention Berossos 89.
Manetho
Map 3-Manetho's Egypt facing page 95
Chapter 5. Introduction to Manetho 95
Manetho's Life and Work 95, Manetho's History of Egypt-Sources,
Methods, and Reliability 103, Manetho's History of Egypt-Reception
and Transmission 115, Manetho's History of Egypt-Goals and Ac
complishments 119.
Chapter 6. Manetho-Ancient Testimony 121
Chapter 7. Manetho-Fragments 129
History of Egypt, Volumes 1-3 129, History of Egypt, Volume 1 153,
History of Egypt, Volume 2 155, History of Egypt, Volume 3 164,
Against Herodotus 165, Sacred Book 165, On Antiquity and Religion
165, On Festivals 166, On the Preparation of Kyphi 166, Digest of
Physics 167, Miscellaneous 167.
Chapter 8. Pseudo-Manetho-Ancient Testimony and Fragments 173
Apotelesmatika (Astrological Influences) 173, Book ofS othis 174.
Chapter 9. Manetho-Tables 183
Table A. Time Outline-Egypt 183, Table B. Ancient Egyptian Ruler
Lists, Manetho's List, and a Modem List Compared 185, Table C. Ja
coby's Numbering for Manetho's Testimony and Fragments Compared
with Our Corresponding Numbering 204, Table D. Our Numbering
Corresponding to Jacoby's and Waddell's Numbering for Manetho's
Testimony and Fragments 207, Table E. Ancient and Medieval
Authors Who Preserve or Mention Manetho 210.
Bibliography 213
Index 217
Conventions
T + # refers to an ancient source in our edition that contains information or
testimony about Berossos, Manetho, Berossos's History, or Manetho's
History and other writings.
F + # refers to an ancient source in our edition that contains information
which originally appeared in Berossos's History or Manetho's History
and other writings.
. . . indicates that text of an ancient author has not been translated, as it did
not concern Berossos or Manetho or it did not form part of Berossos 's or
Manetho's writings.
lac. indicates that text of an ancient author is missing or illegible in the
manuscript tradition or that a document is defective.
( ) Words, phrases, and sentences enclosed in parentheses are additions we
have made in our translations of the ancient texts, usually to make them
more readily understandable.
ANET3 = James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the
Old Testament, third edition (Princeton 1969).
BM =British Museum (with index number for the tablet).
CAH2 =Cambridge Ancient History, vols. 3-5, 2d ed. 1982-92.
CAH3 =Cambridge Ancient History, vols. 1-2, 3d ed. 1970-75.
FGrHist Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, vols.
=
I-III (Leiden and Berlin, 1923-1958)-a collection of the fragments of
those historical works written in Greek, which survive mainly by being
quoted or cited by more fortunate authors whose works have been pre
served. Some of the volumes of fragments are accompanied by companion
volumes of commentary. Some of these volumes of commentary are in
German, some in English. Unfortunately, Jacoby did not live long enough
to write a commentary for the fragments of either Berossos or Manetho.
viii Conventions
Testimony and fragments of Berossos are in FGrHist vol. III C 1 (1958),
pp. 364-97. Berossos = FGrHist #680. Testimony and fragments of Man
etho are in FGrHist vol. III C 1 (1958), pp. 5-112. Manetho = FGrHist
#609.
FHG = Carolus Muller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 5 vols. (Paris,
1841-1870). The testimony and fragments of Manetho are in FHG
2:511--616.
Karst = Josef Karst, Die Chronik aus dem Armenischen ubersetzt, vol. 5 of
Eusebius, Werke (Leipzig 1911), five volumes which offer a translation
of Eusebius's surviving writing. Volume 5 contains a German transla
tion of the Armenian translation of Eusebius's Chronicon (The Chroni
cle).
With one exception, only passages that ancient authors specifically at
tributed to Berossos or to Manetho are given, not passages for which Beros
sos or Manetho is the presumed source. The one exception is Manetho F29b.
Testimony or information about Berossos and Manetho is arranged in
chronological order of the authors of that information.
Fragments of Berossos' s History and Manetho' s History and other writ
ings are in the order they would have appeared in those works, that is, for
the most part in chronological order.
We used what might be called reformist spelling for transliterating proper
names from ancient Greek to English, as we try to preserve the Greek spell
ing and sound rather than give a spelling derived from the original or sup
posed original Mesopotamian or Egyptian script. We have tried to be
consistent, but it is difficult. Some Mesopotamian and Egyptian names have
become standardized in English, and it seemed at times too strange to
change those already so familiar names by using a straight transliteration
from Greek to English letters. We therefore apologize for any inconsisten
cies the reader may notice. In addition, we have standardized our translit
eration of the Greek spelling of our two authors' Greek names. Berossos is
always spelled Berossos, even though his name appears in various different
Greek forms in the manuscripts, and Manetho is always spelled Manetho,
even though in Greek it more properly is Manethon. In chapters 4 and 9,
where the individual rulers named by Berossos and Manetho are listed, for
names derived from Mesopotamian or Egyptian lists we give modem
equivalents, which are more closely based on the supposed Mesopotamian
and Egyptian pronunciation of proper names.
Conventions
lX
We give the numbers assigned by Jacoby in FGrHist to the historians
mentioned in the texts we translate. Where possible, we also give the testi
mony number or fragment number.
We give both Latin titles and English titles of the ancient authors' works
that preserve the histories of Berossos and Manetho. We give the standard
English names for the Latin authors and the standard latinized forms for the
surviving Greek authors, for example, Pliny for the Latin Plinius, Josephus
for the Greek transliteration Josephos. For fragmentary Greek authors, how
ever, we use a reformist transliteration, since these names have not become
standardized in English-for example, Hestiaios rather than Hestiaeus. In
rare cases, when we translate the names of Greek authors from a Latin
original, we give the Latin spelling of the Greek name.
For the names of the kings of Judah, we use the standard English translit
erations of the Hebrew.
For Eusebius's text, when both treat the same material, we have preferred
the Greek text of Syncellus's Ecloga Chronographica (Chronological Ex
cerpts), which preserves parts of Eusebius's Chronicon (The Chronicle), to
Karst' s German translation of the Armenian translation of Eusebius' s
Chronicon.